I forgot that Thanksgiving is solely an American holiday. Stores don't shut down in Haiti like they do back home; Friday isn't any more full of traffic or savings than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and British people and Australians don't celebrate this holiday (although they did join us for dinner to celebrate this year)!
This Thanksgiving was pretty difficult for me. It was the first year I've ever spent Thanksgiving away from my family and the first time in probably eight years that I haven't spent it with one of my best friends. I was homesick, to say the least. Luckily, my church family had big plans that day! The O'Kelley's were nice enough to open their home to 40-50 of the members of our congregation so we could celebrate Thanksgiving together, American style (minus the stuffing). It was even more awesome than I expected. I had sweet potato marshmallow casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, apple crumble, and pumpkin cheesecake all for the very first time! The night was spent with good friends and great food. A special thanks to the O'Kelley's for hosting us!
Before dinner, I was thinking of all the things I'm thankful for.... God and how wonderful and mighty He is; my amazing family and friends (both here and back home); the people who have donated to my past trips to Haiti and my current trip; those who have prayed over me; for 12Stone Church and my nameless Haitian house church; my two roommates, Sarah and Rachael; my boss, Thony, and his family; the country of Haiti and all of the people here (natives and ex-pats alike) who are joining together to bring forth change; for vegetables, coffee, Nutella, peanut butter M&Ms, Thanksgiving dinner, and so so so much more :)
One of the many tables in the O'Kelley's kitchen
After getting home from Thanksgiving dinner, Rachael, Sarah, and I went to bed early so we could wake up somewhat rested for our trip to Bethany. We left Friday morning around 5:30 a.m. and got to the World Hope International sponsored school in Bethany around 12:30 p.m. In total, World Hope International sponsors over 70 children at the school there. We performed an audit, passed out Christmas cards and gifts sent from donors, and got a few group shots of the children.
Some of the World Hope International sponsored children in the village of Bethany
Although we made the trip to Bethany for the sponsored children,
we spent some time with other children from the village too.
Their smiles are so precious!
The drive to Bethany is not one that should be made round-trip in one day. Knowing that, Thony told us we'd be staying the night in the closest city nearby, the city of Cap-Haitian. He asked us if there was anything in particular we wanted to do there. Our joint response was going to the Citadel and riding up the mountain on donkeys. Being the wonderful person he is, he arranged that for us!
Twa Fi (aka me, Sarah, and Rachael) in front of King Henri Cristophe's palace
Twa fi and our donkeys with our guide and his horse
The Citadel :)
We met some Chilean UN trainees running up and down the mountain waving their flag. You wave that flag, buddy. Represent your country!
Our guide telling us that King Henri Cristophe committed suicide and was probably buried under that big piece of cement in the background
The view from the top. Mountains beyond mountains.
We felt like being tourists for the day. All three of us bought a hat and took a billion pictures.
The king's palace. He had a giant mirror in that arch and when the sun hit it, it was so bright that one could not see the palace at all. Talk about smart!
To get what you want in Haiti, sometimes you just have to get a little more creative than you usually would. Improvisation works well here. I'm almost out of peppermint mocha coffee creamer..... but I did pick up
some peppermint Hershey kisses in the States....
Reverse Culture Shock- a term used to describe the feelings (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.) experienced when an individual returns to his/her home country
So I’ve officially spent 90 days in Haiti! Since I don’t have a visa, I have to leave the country every 90
days. I decided to return home to spend a few days with my family and friends. Here
are some of the things I experienced that caught me off guard- some of them are reverse culture shock... others are just funny.
The airport in Fort Lauderdale had carpet. I
don’t remember the last time I saw carpet.
There was a wide variety of salad selections in Ft.
Lauderdale… and I knew I could eat every single piece of that salad without
worrying about the aftermath it could cause.
People were speaking English… and they weren’t
all white. I could actually hear and understand about 5 different conversations
around me. I’m used to tuning everything out because I can’t make sense of it
all. This time it was like information overload.
There was a WATER FOUNTAIN in the airport. Cold.
Purified. WATER. A non-stop supply of it. After staring at it for about a minute or two, I went up to it, pressed the button, and drank it
until I was not longer thirsty. Then I held the button down and just
watched the water shoot out. I didn't even care that I was wasting water… it was
great!
The weather was really stinkin cold in Atlanta.
Like heavy jacket cold. I hasn’t even gotten light jacket cold in Haiti at
night. Definitely wasn’t prepared for that.
See, the power goes off in Haiti often. We’re
fortunate enough to have an inverter so we can keep power for a pretty long
time after city power has shut off. However, if the
water runs out and we don’t pump more water when city power is on, then when city power shuts off we
will have no water to bath with, cook with, or use to wash dishes. There’s no
telling when city power will come on again. We’ve gone at least two
days without having water. But, in America, the power stays on ALL THE TIME! I could
shower with hot water ALL THE TIME! In fact, I took a 45 minute shower at 2
a.m. because I could. People don’t understand how blessed they are. We have a
reliable source of energy! Oh, it’s so great.
You can’t punch for “blan” (white people) in the
US…. Because they’re everywhere. I punched my brother when he was driving and
he was kind of insulted, very taken aback, and looked at me like I was out of
my mind. Sorry, Mo. It won't happen again ;)
Not every black person speaks Creole. In fact,
hardly any of them do. I had to watch myself because it’s instinct to
automatically switch to Creole when talking to a black person, especially at
the airport and restaurants.
You can drive above 30 mph. You can drive
without hitting potholes. You don’t have to worry about motos weaving in and
out of traffic or cars randomly stopping in the middle of an unofficial lane.
The roads were smooth and clean. We drove fast…. So fast. Sixty miles per hour felt a little too fast.
So on Sunday, I walked in late to my church. The
lights were dimmed and the worship band was playing. I walked into the
auditorium to see 2,500 people with their hands in the air, singing and
praising God. I almost had a panic attack. First, to see 2,500 people in one
place was just overwhelming. Second, to have a body of believers that large is
rare. Third, to see all of those people praising God was one of the most
breath-taking sights. Our God is big. Words can’t even describe how big.
I went to brush my teeth and couldn’t find any
purified water. I was starting to freak out- I didn’t have a car, nobody was
out on the town to bring me water, I needed to brush my teeth but couldn’t find
any water…. It's terrible, that feeling you have when you can’t get something
you need and your breath stinks, too. Then I saw my little brother walk past me
and just stick his toothbrush under the faucet. “Oh yeah, I’m in the States, I
can do that,” is exactly what I thought. We brushed our teeth together and it
was a great bonding experience.
Wal-Mart, baby. Everything under one roof. Pure
genius.
